assad in syria, like you might remember in iraq a few years ago, these governments fought against the rise of islamic fundamentalism. they contained it. >> i as i of that endorsement extends to the assad regime. >> i think that diplomacy and notably russian diplomacy, have made progress, which might allow an exit from the syrian conflict. what would be on the other hand in the catastrophic in my opinion would be to help islamic fundamentalists to brutally overthrow the government of assad. if they take control of syria, they will impose sharia law and persecute minorities. we cannot just do whatever we want in these countries, and breaking off relations with bashar al assad is senseless. on the other hand, guiding democracy in the country would be much more successful than what we are currently doing. >> paintings, books, and plays often contain clues as to the artist or writer's state, but what about a cross word? a master of the art of the cryptic cross word has something very important to tell his legions of fans, so he put it where he had made his life's work -- in a crossword puz